1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to database cloning. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a method and system for maintaining a clone database in a clone space without storing an entire copy of the database.
2. Related Art
Software developers oftentimes wish to test upgrades to an application using real-world data, for example, from a production database. Unfortunately, it is not safe to run an experimental version of the application using the production database because it may cause undesired modifications to the production database. Thus, some developers may clone the production database into a development or test environment that may exist on a separate server from the production database, and may use the database clone to test the experimental version of the application.
Currently, database cloning can be achieved by performing a bit-by-bit copy of the complete production data. Unfortunately, such a cloned database consumes as much disk space as the production database. Therefore, because the production database usually holds a vast amount of data, the size of the production database can require the database cloning operation to take an undesirable amount of time to perform. Further, the size of the production database can prohibit the developer from creating multiple database clones for the development or test environment.
As an alternative to cloning the production database, the developer may use functionality provided by a storage vendor to obtain a snapshot of the production database files. However, the database snapshot needs to exist on the same server instance as the production database and is dependent on the underlying storage device.